I'm accompanying my husband for a job interview in Basel and forgot to pack my comfy black shoes. Is there a place in Basel to get women's shoes without spending an arm and a leg? The ones I forgot are flat black Mary janes by Clarks and are super comfortable for walking around; something similar would be ideal. Would love to find something within walking distance of marktplatz and may just stumble upon something on my own this afternoon. Any advice appreciated!

Yeah, there's a Bata at Marktplatz. If you go in the direction of the river from Marktplatz, and then cross the Johanniter Bridge, the road is cluttered with quite a few shops. You should be able to pick up a bargain there.

Profit shoe store, in Rebgasse near claraplatz (same building Ottos and Fust)

Reporting back for others' reference: found the Bata (and possibly a second Bata, but my sense of direction isn't very good and I'm jet lagged). They had a pair I liked for 40 francs, but not in my size. Practically next door was Ochsner shoes, which also had plenty of what looked like decent quality reasonably priced shoes. Got a pair there and they were very tolerant of my craptacular German("I know not how big is the shoe?").